St Mary's Road update.

The state of St Mary's Road is one of the things people raise with us most often.  It's been great to see the bits of individual enterprise that look to bring unused shops back into use.  But there are still problems which the Council seems to view as "not a lot to do with us guv".

So here's an update on various bits and pieces.

People who know Garston will know that the Sports Bar is in the process of changing into a restaurant and take away.  The sign is up and passers by can spot quite a bit of work going on inside.  The next step's been taken now with an application for a license which includes the proposed hours.  You can see brief details at this link (you'll need to scroll down quite a bit).  It's the Indian Valley entry.

Further up St Mary's Road is the former Ethel Austin shop.  There are plans to re open this as a convenience store.  The Council's licensing committee are meeting this week to decide on the application for the off license bit of that plan.  You can see the details at this link.

Of course the biggest source of complaints are buildings which are not only empty but derelict and dangerous.  And the one with the longest saga must be the corner of James Street.  This,according to the Council, has been due for demolition for ages  In fact they originally said it would come down in Autumn 2013.  Since then two new dates have been given, and both missed.  My colleague Cllr Richard Oglethorpe asked a question about this at the Council.  The answer (which seems to translate as "it's someone elses fault") is at this link

Richard also asked about the former Interchill building.  The question and answer is at this link.